


Theatrics

by SvthSnakeandLion



Series: Heaven Initiative [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: But Peter fights out of suit, But it's not Peter, Don't bother Tony, Gen, Iron Spider - Freeform, Kids disobeying safety protocols, Not a Identity Reveal, Ross should have known better, Tony and Nat in a TED Talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-02 22:39:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11518971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SvthSnakeandLion/pseuds/SvthSnakeandLion
Summary: After the events of “Pen” Secretary Ross asks (I.e. orders) the Avengers (or at least those not facing criminal charges) to do a presentation to the press speaking on behalf of the accords.Tony happily agreed to do it without complaining, only asking that they’d do it in Middletown School and Ross attends as well “To show the press strong ties between the Avengers and the government.”. He also asks for a day so he can prepare his speech and some other stuff.When the time of the presentation comes Colonel James, Natasha and Clint are all apprehensive. They know Tony would never comply to the speech if he didn’t have an agenda. They are certainly not disappointed.





	Theatrics

**Author's Note:**

> It'd like to thank the positive reviews of my last work in leading me to this second shot. More after the reading...

As the students gathered in the gym Ned couldn’t help but think it was just like every month when the class would be forced to sit trough the Captain America Fitness video or some other annoying educational movie featuring the still war criminal Steve Rodgers. Only this time the whole school, plus a number of local and international correspondents were going to be joining them for the instruction, which would be given Live instead of from a screen.

Peter, of course, had shared some of the details, so although it was a surprise for most of his colleagues he knew this was coming. Basically former General and now Secretary of State Thaddeus “Thunderbolt" Ross had not been a happy camper ever since “someone" released some pretty damning details on the Sokovia Accords fragilities, which in turn got both Hawkeye and Black Widow off the hook.

To make amends, the military man, cause no one really considered him a politician, decided he needed the Avengers doing some damage control to stand up for the political party and all the military was doing. He basically threatened Stark and the others to conduct this glorified "TED Talk” and get themselves recorded sticking up for the Accords, which were still undergoing reviews.

'Because it was much harder to fix a mess than to create it.' Ned thought rolling his eyes.

 

Anyway, Tony being Tony insisted on putting on a good show. So there was a makeshift stage with a lot of space and the Avengers were all standing leaning on a glass desk high enough to double as a podium, none of them looking very comfortable to be there other than Vision, who was looking at everything with some fascination.

Peter, surprisingly, was not sitting with him, but rather near the edge of the extra seats along with MJ. This was odd because that point didn’t give a good view of the stage due to the cameras set right ahead of it. Michelle had chosen to sit there so she could go on and dub the speeches near some reporter in hopes they would at least consider her “unfiltered" version. Peter said Mr. Stark had asked him to stay there. He had a mischievous smirk when he said so.

Ned didn’t know Tony Stark as much as his fellow friend. But even he could tell when something was up. If not because of the Iron-man cooperating with the general then because Peter would never be expressing some satisfaction at having to sit on what was basically a promotion of something he hated with a passion. It only made him sit as furthest as he could from the stage.

Judging by the expression on most of the avengers, he was not the only one apprehensive.

 

“Ladies and gentleman, please welcome Mr. Tony Stark and Ms. Natasha Romanov.” Ross said after giving some speech people most ignored. Tony walked in with flash cards and began.

“The Sokovia Accords and what they mean to you.” He said reading from the card. “Now, isn’t that an interesting title? I mean, how many of you are inhumans? Anyone willing to raise a hand?”

There was silence all over the room while only vision raised his hand.

“Though so." Tony continued “But just because you can’t shoot lasers from your…a”

“TONY!” The Black Widow said covering his mic.

“I was going to say Armpit.” The Iron-man said taking her mic, which was met with laughter from most students. “As I was saying, just because you can’t shoot lasers or teleport or turn into a giant violent green beast does not mean you should think the Sokovia accords affect you.”

 

Nathasha took over, speaking without flash cards. “The accords are there to protect you. It prevents people with unnatural powers from messing with your life just because they can and you can’t. It’s basically a big anti bullying police.” She said in a neutral tone.

No one could tell if she was being ironic or not. Not even Stark judging by his glance at her.

“I guess that’s right. A 117 country backed anti super powered bullying police. Now if only the inverse was true. I mean, we all know about the Watchdogs, and I understand their acts. It’s only natural to be scared of people who appear like a china doll on the outside, people you think you can mess with and get away with it but when push comes to shove the guy can freeze your… Am I allowed to say Butt?” He asked Principal Morita. Gathering an eye roll from his friends and another round of gaggles.

“I believe what Tony is trying to say is that just because the accords are intended to safeguard countries from superhuman power abuse does not mean we can go and belittle the inhumans. Even a child, when driven to the edge can do both amazing and terrible things without powers. Whoever doubts me is invited to watch Pass it Forward.”

“Right, but I think we were here to talk about the accords. So back to the topic.” Tony interrupted “Because of the accords the Avengers cannot overstep their boundaries and go around fighting and creating chaos like the Germany Airport without proper authorisation. That’s a good thing.” Tony told the students. “Because it’s not like something that requires urgent action like a Nuke heading to New York could happen.” He said towards Ross dripping sarcasm.

The glare the Secretary returned couldn’t have been more clear if it had a giant LED banner behind it flashing the words “Watch your mouth Stark.”.

 

Natasha decided it was the moment to stir this ship into safer waters.

“Impending doom aside, sometimes Inhumans will act without measuring consequences and what was done in the attempt to save a live could end up killing dozens or hundreds. The Sokovia Accords help us remember that just because we have a power it does not mean it should be abused. Someone once told me that with great powers come a great responsibility. This is a valuable lesson even for you children.”

“By the way.” Clint added from his point in the stand “Votes should also remember those lines when they select their representatives. It is a lot of power you place in the hands of the Capitol and the White House. Make too big a mistake and H.Y.D.R.A. won’t be necessary to turn the world into a very sad place.” He said in a joking tone, yet one could tell he was serious.

“Sokovia." Tony repeated himself. “Anyway aside from restricting the use of powers it allows for classification of Inhumans. Which is a good thing if we want demographics, but kind of an invasion of intimacy. However, it has been stabilised, even by Inhumans, that it is not a bad idea to look into your powers with a person you trust. It helps people learn to control their powers, and in turn avoids accidents and problems. Also, since inhumans have to adapt to new senses, sometimes it can become painfully overwhelming. A good doctor will help mitigate problems.

“So, if you ever feel you need to talk about “the changes into your body.” Tony continued doing air quotes “You can always drop by our facility and ask for a coffee. We have a mean expresso machine and every Saturday there is this really cool lunch made up of home cooked stuff.”

 

Ned couldn’t help a smirk at that comment. After Peter convinced his aunt it was not a bad idea to show up for some periodic exams at the Complex May had used one of the visits to "Discuss" things with Mr. Stark and the other Avengers on site (by then Natasha had officially returned).

They all agreed that despite Peter’s internship being a cover for Spiderman. Sometime down the road people would ask what the boy had been doing and unless he had some new skills to prove he learn something in internship he was bound to draw the undesired kind of attention.

Natasha decided that Peter would go to the complex at least once a week to do some work as intern, with recordings from U. Sometimes Tony would give him an easy project. Sometimes Peter got to look for cracks in Tony’s work and sometimes he got to test the other avenger’s weapons. 

If he was getting some tips from Clint on how to shoot a bow or Natasha on how to throw daggers, Tony and May were willing to turn a blind eye to the ad hoc instructors. As the saying goes fortune favours the prepared.

 

After the thing with the articles Tony had decided to add more tasks to Peter’s list of duties. One of them was cooking them lunch whenever he visited, because however bad his aunt was at cooking Peter was as good with a pan as he was mixing chemicals for web fluid, and people at the base were really growing tired of pizza, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Italian take out, sandwiches, rinse and repeat.”

Another task was conferencing with Keener, who had also been awarded a Internship. Harley had his own lab in Rose Hill and since he didn't have a healing factor Tony insisted he kept his projects tame. But despite being only a few years older Peter could still teach the young boy a lot of stuff, and once a month Tony got Harley to fly over and spend a Saturday working with them.

What Tony didn’t knew was that Peter and Harley would sometimes conduct a few unsanctioned experiments on the latter’s lab. In fact, despite Peter's protests, Harley sometimes went rogue and attempted cooking something of his own. Luckily, so far there had been no problems other than Peter nearly having a Heart Attack one or two times.

 

Ned turned his attention back to the conference. Natasha had been talking something about respecting other's differences and yadda yadda.

“You never know when something could happen and next time it’s you growing up powers. Even if you’ve been exposed to Terrigenesis or the contaminated fish oil and didn’t change we should not forget that neither Captain America nor the Winter Soldier were inhumans, and still got powers, anything could happen and someday you find yourself on the side you thought you hated.”

“I believe we have already spoken enough here Nat. Let's not bore them to death." Tony said in a joking manner. By then everyone was alleviated. Tony had done as asked by Ross, even if he had jabbed a few undesired comments on his speeches. Perhaps it was only mild paranoia…

 

A large chunk of the wall came down and everybody turned to see a man covered in what looked like a yellow morph suit with a fishnet over it, but the weapon in his hand betrayed the guy as the Shocker. “Attention everyone, I am taking over this venue in the name of some quick buck and getting rid of a pest!” He said walking towards the stage and wiping lashes of electricity. It was like watching a train wreck: no one moved, stunned by the sudden appearance.

 

He jumped and landed before Tony and Natasha, both of whom seemed surprised and guarded, but rather than attack them the man dressed in yellow fishnet just moved both of them aside with his hands and walked towards his real target, Sec. Ross.

 

“No! He's Mine!” Said another voice from besides the stage as a red skull faced man in lab clothes appeared. “I shall make him pay for betraying H.Y.D.R.A!”

“What?!?" Ross said stepping back from the two threats. “This is not possible! Get them!”

 

Ross security detail, two guards, quickly raised their weapons and began shooting at the stage while Tony and Natasha moved away and the other Avengers took cover, as did everyone else. The bullets nearly hit the intended targets but the Shocker shielded himself with a whip of a thousand volts and "Red Skull” simply dodged them by pulling up some crazy ninja move.

 

“We met again Thaddeus!” Red Skull announced before the cameras. “You really thought I would not make my fury rain on you after your betrayal?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about!” The Secretary spoke furious, drawing his side arm. Red Skull moved in and took the pistol, before disassembling it into pieces faster than one could say "Holly Molly!". Meanwhile, taking advantage of the empty magazines, Shocker took the guns and after one whip sliced them into half.

 

“Stark do something!” Ross shouted.

 

“I can’t.” He told the former general “Sokovia Accords remember?”

“This is an emergency!” Ross argued

"There are no provisions for emergencies.” Natasha reminded Ross. “Having such provisions would most likely defeat the purpose of the Accords, since the idea was to prevent the Avengers from acting on whatever they considered an emergency.”

“I don’t care, save me!” Ross said backing so much he had reached the edge of the stage.

“Well, how about I lend a hand?" Asked a newcomer dropping in from the ceiling.

 

The students, teacher and media, who still had not evacuated, turned to see Spider Man drop from the ceiling. Only the suit was somewhat different.

 

“Iron Spider in the house!” Spider man said with a voice that pretty much reminded Ned of Peter's, except petter was still standing besides Michelle and looking as surprised as everyone else. “Really, I was just testing this stuff but look what I found? Two ugly guys harassing children and seniors, you are so getting Coal on Christmas.”

 

“Spider-man! You are mine!” Shocker said.

“Took the words out of my mouth bro.” The Iron spider replied shooting a web and trapping the shocker before punching him so hard the man went flying into the empty field behind the stage, only to get loose from a burst of electricity.

 

He came running back to the stage but Spider-Man went to deal with him, leaving Ross, Red Skull and the still unresponsive avengers.

"Stark, you get this man out of my sight right now or else!” Ross demanded.

“Tony, I think an exception can be made in this case.” Natasha argued. “We kinda knew something like this could happen right? Besides, it’s not interference if there is no one else handling it.”

 

“I’m sure by now at least police, if not the whole Delta Squad is converging around here.” Tony argued. “But have no fear, I've anticipated a solution for this slight hiccup. Peter, if you would?”

 

Petter nodded, rising from his spot and walking towards Red Skull, who glanced at him with mild curiosity before giving out a loud round of laugher that screamed “Evil Overlord”. “And what does that puny kid can do against "Ze" Red Skull, master of HYDRA?” The creature asked motioning himself

“The name’s Peter Parker!” The boy said moving his watch. “And I’m Mr. Stark’s Intern!” He added placing what looked like an Iron Man glove on his hand and shooting out a repulser blast right on the chest of Red Skull. This was followed by several quick bursts which sent the super-villain towards the other end of the stage before peter cranked the dial on the watch and shot a charged long burst, sending Red Skull up on the ceiling.

Tony himself went from extremely satisfied to slightly surprised “I did not put that there.”

 

“F.R.I.D.A.Y. Engage.” He said shifting the dial once again. The Iron man boots and a second glove came flying out of nowhere and Peter shoot into the ceiling, engaging in a fight with Red Skull while Iron Spider did the same with Shocker.

 

“Ahem.” Tony said in the mic. “While I am truly interested in watching this battle I think we should focus on clearing the area and getting the Avengers the needed authorisations.”

Principal Morita, the other teachers, and the Avengers quickly reacted and began evacuating the Gym and the rest of the School. Outside the Police began clearing the perimeter while local surveillance cameras found Peter playing whack a mole with Red Skull, his aim not being able to get the criminal from afar now the overlord was alert.

 

Down the roof the fight of Spider-man and Shocker was also in a stalemate, with both friendly and enemy holding their ground. Ned, one of the last to leave the premisses, couldn’t help but think this shocker with strange suit was too good compared with the two Peter fought before. That or whoever had the Iron Spider suit on was not that good of a fighter.

 

“Where is the damn authorisation?” Asked Natasha looking at her cell.

“It would appear nearby cellular towers are disabled, there is also Radio Jamming.” Vision replied “Most likely an attempt to ground the Avengers. Mr. Parker was only able to take on the suit because it was nearby.” He added looking at Tony with suspicion.

 

“Great.” Natasha said taking a seat on one of the bleachers. “Then we wait.”

"Are you sure this is a good Idea?” Asked Clint.

“The School’s been evacuated. Peter is the only one in any sort of danger then again I doubt he will have any problems with that Red Skull.”

“You are talking about one of the most evil persons in the planet, who disarmed Thunderbolt Ross in a matter of seconds and dodged bullets like a ninja.” Clint replied.

“Ross was not my protégé.” Was Natasha’s reply. “Besides I don’t think Peter’s in actual danger.” She said turning to stare at Tony, who had an oddly neutral face.

 

The fight escalated for several minutes. Secretary Ross quickly finding about the radio jam which also prevented the police and military from coordinating. Eventually he got hold of a Satelite phone and called the UN directory, only to find they Security council was out on lunch. Instead he called President Ellis and requested the authorisation, which was quickly granted.

After the authorisation was given the avengers quickly reacted. Clint and Natasha joined Iron Spider while Tony and Vision did the same with Peter. With two arrows Clint grounded then destroyed the shock gun. Allowing Natasha in for duel. Meanwhile Iron Spider activated the instant death mode, which made him jump into deadly fight acrobatics. A few more arrows of Clint and some web and flying knifes latter the Shocker was trapped into a big ball of web pinned to the wall, only his face sticking out.

 

“I think that did the trick.” Spider-Man said sighting in relief “That was awesome!”

“Cannot continue fighting operations, Initiating Ash-to-Ash." A cybernetic female voice spoke.

"Look out!” Spider man said webbing the two avengers and pulling them away as the “Shocker" exploded, ejecting robotic parts all over the floor.

 

Natasha and Clint quickly doused the fire and turned to check the pieces “There’s some stark industries tech here, also Hammer Technologies and Pym Technologies.” the Widow said.

“An Android?” Clint asked surprised. “But who was behind this?”

“Probably someone from H.Y.D.R.A. if we are to believe Red Skull, he’s probably a robot as well.”

“That would certainly explain the Tibetan monk dodging Bullets moves.” Clint replied.

 

Up on the roof the combined efforts of four repulsers and Vision’s laser, which the latter was being very careful while shooting managed to back the Red Skull onto the edge of the school roof. If Vision and Peter were unwilling to shoot for the kill, for Tony it was a different matter.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., Rocket!” He shouted, popping up and shooting the devastation rocket at the same time Peter sent a repulsor shot to Red Skull, trowing him out of the roof. The rocket connected and flew a few meters with the life model decoy before blasting over the police, launching organic mass against the riot shields below and the roofs, with Peter having to be shielded by Iron Man and Vision.

 

“That wasn’t necessary!” Peter said disgusted as he dodged some brain matter before being hit by what looked like a long piece of muscle tissue on the shoulder.

“Sorry, unresolved issues.” The Iron man excused before leaving the armour and taking off the gloves from Peter. “You tampered with my gloves.”

“Technically they are my gloves.” Peter replied. “Even if most of the design came from you, Harley and I built those. We tested the "Kamehameha mode" before so I knew it would work, I just decided to swap them in for the gloves you gave me for this little show.” The boy said low enough so that only the people in the roof could hear him. “I'm going to need that back to get down.”

 

“That won’t be necessary. Vision will carry you down, make sure to look beat Mr. Ninja Warrior." Tony added. Vision nodded and took the boy in his arms before lowering them into the ground while Tony did the same with the armour.

 

They all got into the Limo, which Happy had nearby, and began the drive to the Avengers Complex.

“So, how exactly did you pull that out?” Natasha asked Tony. “I get it the Shocker was a robot and the Red Skull a life model decoy, both with some implants and a mixture of Stark, Pym and Hammer technology. But I don’t think you would use artificial intelligence to run them after Ultron."

“All will explained in due moment.” Tony replied not taking his eyes of the device on his hands.

“There's also the matter of the double Spider-man.” Clint reminded “Where is he after all?”

“I think he escaped when Red Skull blew up.” Natasha replied. “We know you had something to do with that one since the only people who know about ISM project are in this very car, other than Pepper.”

 

* * *

 

 

Once they reached the facility they went to the TV lounge. Harley, Cooper, Lisa and Laura holding Nathaniel were there watching the TV. All over the news the issue at Midtown was broadcast with particular detail to Red Skull accusing Ross of being Ex H.Y.D.R.A.

Tony chuckled “Steve is probably having a Heart Attack after seeing this.”

“Will you explain how this happened in the first place?” Asked Clint.

“There's not much to say, really. When Ross came up with the idea of the “TED Talk on Sokovia" and basically forced us into saying yes I decided it was a good opportunity to humiliate him in public. Knock him down a peg or two. I just needed to fool some friends and get a few accomplices.

“So he called in us!” Cooper said from his seat. “As In Harley, Lila and me. We got a crash course on remote LMD operation and on the specific functions these remote LMD had such as dodging bullets and capturing weapons. I moved the shocker while also doing the voice for red Skull, which was controlled by Lila with some of mom's help. Harley did the Iron Spider since he knew how to use the web shooters.”

"I wonder how exactly..." Tony said glaring at Peter, who shrugged.

 

“What was Peter’s role in all of this?” Asked Natasha.

“By tomorrow the whole world will know the Avengers were benched and it fell to a young boy using tech borrowed from the Iron man to save Ross a… butt.” Tony quickly corrected himself as he noticed Laura and Clint’s glare on him. “Furthermore now the world knows someone can cut off communication in order to prevent us from acting. I’m sure this will get us into another round of talks about amending the Accords. More importantly, I don’t think Ross will bother us for a while.”

"Wasn't it a little risky to expose him as your assistant and as a capable fighter?” Asked Clint. “People could start to think he is an Inhuman."

“It was bound to become public sooner or latter that Peter is my close assistant. I mean, sure, on the books it is Maria supervising him because even if I was directly his boss I would not just go and place it on paper. His fight skills are actually explained away by the training he had with both of you. Besides, given some rumours going around in less than pleasant places, I could not miss this chance of presenting evidence that Peter Parker was _not_ Spider Man.”

“As a bonus this should get Flash off my back.” Peter added "No more being called that ridicule nick name after fighting with the Avengers. And since it was a one time deal and I did 'save' the Secretary of State I don’t think they will make me sign the Sokovia Accords.”

“We never know with these guys.” Tony replied. “But it would be a very stupid move on their part. Most likely they will sweep it under the rug, but you might yet get a service medal for Bravery, depending on DC’s or the UN's mood and the size of their necessity to make up for their mistakes.”

 

* * *

 

Peter did a celebratory meal with some help from Laura while Natasha and Tony had to a debriefing with the President and the Security Council.

Tony claimed so far they had no idea who attacked the school while going after Ross. He denied involvement since the technology of his enterprise used on the LMD’s was the same one that was stolen from his hangar by members of the Watchdogs, and went on to elucidate how these artificial beings could be used to frame anyone, as instead of a LMD of Red Skull claiming that Ross was HYDRA it could very well have been a double of Ross Himself committing crimes, all they needed was enough data to create an artificial replica.

Data, Natasha reminded the politicians, which could easily be stolen from documents like the Sokovia Registry. A List that had already fallen into wrong hands once.

Ross, being the ass he is tried to get Stark to give the Iron Man technology to the Army since “Even a kid could use it for self defence.”. Tony, of course, had expected that attempt and was more than glad to deny it using the damage Peter had caused to the school and the surrounding buildings while trying, and failing, to shoot Red Skull as an example of why it shouldn’t be accessible to anyone. He also agreed to cover the damage since he was indirectly responsible, and that shut up the complaints.

After no further questions could be made the politicians had withdrawn to debate these revelations. Once they were sure the communications were down Natasha turned to Tony and commented. “I'd hate to see the day you turned to the other side Tony. Sometimes you can be an Evil Genius the likes of which could put Zola on a run for his money.”

 

Tony nodded, not really happy or angry at the comment. God knows he made a few mistakes not even crazy people like Zola would attempt. At the same time his tech saved the day more times than he could count on both hands. Lest we forget about the Nuke the security council almost threw in Manhattan to stop the Chitauri.

“You made sure they wouldn’t be able to rebuild those replicas or trace it to you?” Nat asked.

“Of course! The money needed was routed from a number of off shore accounts in small amounts. The parts are mostly your average junkyard stuff, except the biogenic compound, which was something S.H.I.E.L.D. had on archives, so H.Y.D.R.A. should also have access to it. There were some mean microchips there but I made sure they would fry when the self destruction of the robots engaged, that way no one can copy the tech as well as I did, at least for a while.”

 

A precaution he knew to be necessary if they wanted to avoid Ross from creating his personal Anti-Human army of drones, which would probably go order 66 on all of them. No, nearly being vaporised by Insight was enough of a lesson on why not to trust the government with your MADW’s. 

 

“How much longer do you think congress will let Ross run the show after this fiasco?" Clint asked between a mouthful of Papaya dessert.

“Thaddeus might not be good at playing diplomacy, but he knows a few war tactics that make up for it.” Maria hill spoke, having joined the crew from her station. “I'm sure he has enough dirt on congress and Ellis himself to remain on the seat despite his past failures.”

“Which reminds me, whose Idea was to accuse the secretary of state of being former H.Y.D.R.A.?" Asked Tony. “I'm sure this was not in the script.”

 

The four teenagers looked among themselves. Particularly the two Bartons who were controlling that puppet. Finally Peter spoke “It came out as a kind of collective decision when we were reviewing your script. Lila pointed out it was stupid for Red Skull to show himself after being apparently dead for fifty years just to kill the Secretary. Then I proposed we created a new reason, and Cooper hinted at giving Mr. Ross some kind of secret the latter would not want exposed in public. Harley then decided the worst secret that could come up was Ross being H.Y.D.R.A. and betraying them to save his ass. Something which is actually not that unexpected of him."

“That was very smart of the four of you.” Natasha replied.

 

“Definitely worth missing a couple of days of school.” Harley agreed beaming with pride. “Just hope the real Spider Man doesn’t get mad at me for using that suit.”

"I'm sure he won’t mind.” Peter replied, earning stares from the Avengers. “From what he says to me he’s not a friend of Ross either.”

“Wait wait wait… Stop!” Tony said interrupting “You still hasn’t told him?” He asked Peter.

“What?” Both boys asked, in completely different contexts, Petter annoyed and Harley confused.

“Harley, Peter _is_ Spider-man. I figured you would have connected the dots sooner.” Colonel Rhodes explained from his seat.

“Say what?” The three kids who were not bitten by a radioactive spider replied at the same time.

 

“You never found odd Peter knew so much about spider fluid and it’s uses?” Tony asked after the initial shock on the kids face passed.

“Well, he did claim to be working on designing Spider’s gear with you. And since Peter is really nerdy and Spider-Man is cool I didn’t think…”

“Hey!” Peter objected “I can be cool, didn’t you just see me fighting out there?”

“Not exactly your best moment Peter. I mean, the Kamehameha mode was cool, but then you blew it by failing to hit Lila once on the roof.” Cooper pointed.

“That's because it was part of the plan!” Peter complained. “I could have totally trashed that LMD myself!”

“Really?” Natasha asked. “Perhaps we should do a field test of your skills. What do you say of fighting me?”

 

Peter went from confident to afraid in a split second. “I think I'll take five Red Skulls before going against you Nat.”

“Why do you call her Nat and I’m Mr. Stark?" Asked Tony. “This is so unfair."

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Peter said directing a censorship glare at Natasha.

“It's a secret between the two of us." Was the only reply the Black Widow offered.

The other Avengers on the table all laughed at Tony and Peter’s expense. 

 

* * *

 

 

That Night.

 

After asking Happy to return Peter to his Aunt and making accommodations for the Barton family and Harley Tony left the world for the comfort of his lab, where he decided to run a few tests on the modified repulse device Peter tinkered with. It was actually a miniaturised Palladium reactor model and yet it packed quite a punch, if the recoil damage to the internal components was any indication.

It was a good thing he got his hands on it before the device exploded on Peter’s hands. He would have to talk with the boy about this sooner or latter. That being said, with a few changes in the alloys and a new element reactor this thing could prove itself very useful when something bad enough to warrant all the Avengers back popped.

Speaking of the Devil.

He heard a faint old Ringtone coming from a drawer nearby and pulled the bottom drawer to reveal the 1990 era flip phone Steve had gifted him with his "Dear Jhon” letter. Tony had almost forgot about it in light of everything going on but he made a point to replace the old battery with something that could last a few years on standby, lest they be out of juice if... when the phone was needed.

 

“I figured now was a good time to call, are you all right?” Asked the voice on the other side.

“Couldn't have been better Cap. How's your heart doing?”

“I must admit I might have dropped my Ice Cream bowl when I saw Red Skull fighting a kid on the roof of a school. I was almost convincing T’Challa to lend me a ship when word that you blasted it to bits reached us and we discovered it was not the real thing. Do you know who did this?”

“Sure. In fact, you are talking to him.” Tony replied leaning on the chair.

 

There were several seconds of silence after Tony made this claim. Obviously Steve was doing the math on his head.

“I should have known. It was odd of you to go and make a Speech for the Accords at the request of Thaddeus Ross.” Rodger said, and Tony was sure if they were face to face he would have been shaking his head. “Might want to tell the kid to stick with spider webs tough, or get Clint and Nat to give him some lessons in shooting.”

Tony gave a chuckle. To Steve it would appear as if the billionaire agreed with him. In truth Tony was finding very ironic that Rodgers had also fallen for Peter’s act of being a bad shooter. Tony knew from a few tapes of his training with Hawkeye and Black Widow his accuracy, while far from a pro, rarely missed. It was just that Peter didn’t like dealing with lethal forms of combat.

 

Unlike the Avengers Spider-man was all about saving lives, not taking them. Him saving the Vulture was enough proof of that. Tony would never had done what Peter did in his place. He would have just felt it was Karma and good riddance, not even considering the fact he was someone’s husband and father.

The Iron man was glad Steve couldn’t see him, for he would have seen Tony shudder at the prospect of creating yet another enemy in light of his apparent disregard for life. In that moment he promised himself he would try and be more like the kid, within reason.

 

“Tony, are you still there?” Steve asked.

“Sure Cap. Anyway sorry for the scare. We considered many villains, but the third choice would have been Loki and people still have the scars from New York, so we figured it would have been a bad idea.”

“It was a good idea. To remind them there are still terrorists like H.Y.D.R.A. around. By the way, Captain America is whoever has that shield. I kind of gave away that part of my life. And not just because of our little brouhaha.” Steve pointed.

“Man, you are old, no one uses that anymore. Still, does this mean you are Steve Rodgers, retired? I mean, you sure have the age to be a war vet…” Tony said in jest. “I wonder if they canceled your pension since you are a war criminal.”

“I'll still be around if they need me. You can call me Nomad if you must. T’Challa and I even got a new suit to fit the moniker.”

“Mind sending me back the old one with your resignation letter? I would really love to scrub it in Rossface.”

“I'll think about it. It does have some sentimental value. Besides you got the shield and the house. I should get to keep a few mementos.”

“I kinda sold the house. No point commuting lately, besides it brings back bad memories.”

“It's a shame, it had a nice view...”

 

“Steve…” Tony sighted “Not that I mind doing small talk with you, but I kinda was working on something that needs both of my hands and your phone doesn’t exactly has speaker mode. By the way where did you buy this? A Museum? Did you even consider they are shutting down 2G?”

“Got it from an abandoned Motorola recycle site. Have no idea what 2G means but I am sure you'd find some way to contact me if the phone did stop working. Anyway, I also have some stuff to do here. It’s not like I am lying on the beach drinking Marguerites till the next world crisis.”

“I'd love to know more about what you are doing. Life for me is basically stopping Ross from starting WWIII and training the kid, among some other hobbies.”

“Perhaps another day Tony. If you need me, I’m a call away.”

“Same here pal." Tony said flipping the phone closed before setting it back on it’s nest.

 

“It's nice to know he's doing well.” Natasha said from her hiding spot. “You too Tony.”

“I guess, but it would be a lot easier if he wasn’t a wanted criminal in 116 countries. I also miss Sam and Wanda. Can’t say much about the big guy who nearly swatted Peter like a fly.”

"I'm sure they will return. Until then it’s up to us to pick their slack.”

Tony nodded, turning toward the screen and making a few more notes on his own prototype of the Kamehameha Mode mark II. “Perhaps it’s time to increase the amount of hours Peter does intern duty.” He also glanced to the pictures of Iron Spider, Red Skull and Shocker on a frozen clip from ANN.

 

Natasha placed a hand on his shoulder in a sign of support. Both of they knew dark days would come and it was better to be prepared than to cry about loss life which could have been avoided. Since the world was not yet ready for a global defence system, as it was more than proven by Insight and Ultron, the burden of guarding Earth, and the future generations, fell to the Avengers. 

 

* * *

 

Tony was satisfied with the final design and set up his 3D printers to prepare the components. Tomorrow he planed to test them with Peter after talking to both him and Harley about the shortcomings of their little side project and how they nearly blew themselves up.

He also wondered what else the boys might have kept from him. Harley’s lab was not nearly as developed as an average lab, and it didn't hold a candle when compared to Tony's. Still, between the boys creativity and Peter having ready access to most of Stark Industries latest tech one could only wonder what else they could have cooked up while Tony was not looking.

Ironically enough, they had been using his own server to store their files. Tony knew there were a bunch of extra files that did not size up with the reports and other stuff Peter and Harley should have in their file server area. Unfortunately, the same amount of Crypto security designed to keep his own secret files away from the boys (and Ross) prevented him from looking further into their storage areas. Because he knew if he could easily break it then so would Peter, eventually.

 

"FRIDAY, save these designs to a new shared folder, then link it to Peter and Harley.”

“Affirmative, what shall I name the new folder?" The computer asked.

"Heaven Initiative." Tony replied before entering the elevator and, with a clap of his hands, turning off the lights as the doors closed.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so not much happened here either. There was some action, but it was all staged by Tony and ad libbed by the kids working together.
> 
> Steve and Tony had a talk, Natasha and Tony had a moment, and Tony is starting to get ideas... which can either be awesome as in Iron Man and Iron Spider or terrible as in Insight Weapons and Ultron.
> 
> Guess we will have to wait and see where this leads.


End file.
